College Professor Bringing ‘Comic Culture’ to the Web

By Dave Huber|
A University of North Carolina Pembroke professor has taken his interest in comics to the ‘net, including a weekly interview show called “Comic Culture.”

Terance Dollard’s show, filmed at the college’s Department of Mass Communication TV studios, features interviews with comic book writers, artists, and publishers regarding their interests and influences, and how their final products are put together.

“When I was growing up, comics weren’t cool,” Dollard said. “If you read comics, you kept it to yourself. Today, comics are mainstream. They are hit films and TV shows, inspired by the work of men and women who produced stories on paper every month with little fanfare.

“On Comic Culture, I get to hear how they crafted complex stories in this commercial context. I get to speak with legends and rising stars, writers and artists, editors and scholars. It’s a fun way to learn comics from multiple points of view.”

The show was picked up late last year by a local PBS affiliate. It was broadcast on a couple of local cable access channels before that.

Broadcasting majors who work in the studio get academic credit … not to mention great resume-building material:

“A student directs the dozen episodes each semester, and other students serve in all the crew positions. They’re supervised [by a professor] as part of her broadcast practicum course, which is a hands-on requirement for broadcasting majors to apply skills from their classes to real television productions.”